Beware of elitism, tribalism, etc.

WE are supposed to love everyone. We are supposed to have a universal heart, meant to be concerned for all people, irrespective of how they are in themselves and how they are toward us. Yes, we have to love everyone, in spite of our unavoidable differences and conflicts.

So, we have to be most careful with our tendency to be concerned only for ourselves and for our own kind. While it’s true and commonsensical that we should take care of ourselves, those close to us and those who are like us, we should also see to it that we are not trapped in that world alone. We have to find a way of how we can at least be thoughtful of everybody else.

We obviously have our own respective niches in the world, our own specialization, our own focus, but we should never forget that we are not meant to be detached from everybody else. Our individuality, our uniqueness should not be an obstacle to the communion with everybody else that is meant for us.

Given our human condition that has certain limitations, we no doubt have to establish a certain order of priorities. But we should see to it that this sense of priorities does not tie us down and get us too attached to any level of collective life, starting with the family, but rather should facilitate our having a universal concern for everyone.

Our individuality and uniqueness should play a subsidiary role to the sense of solidarity that we all should have in pursuit of the common goal. These are the basic social principles that we all should live as best that we can.

Otherwise, we would fall into the disorders of individualism, elitism, tribalism, parochialism, sectarianism, political partisanship, familiosis and the other forms of exclusivistic particularism. We have to remember that we have a strong tendency to fall into these anomalies since they can be self-reinforcing.

If we believe that we are patterned after God who wants us to be his image and likeness, then we cannot fail to realize that we are meant to be with everybody else. The intimate Trinitarian life of God should somehow be reflected in the lives of all of us. We are meant to enter into a relation of knowing and loving among ourselves.

This, of course, will require some training, since we need to develop the proper attitudes, skills, practices, habits and virtues to attain this ideal of living in communion with God and with everybody else.

We have to examine ourselves, especially our thoughts and attitudes, to see if our affiliation to any grouping, starting with the family, hinders or fosters the universal outlook that we should have.

We cannot deny that there are many problems, issues and difficulties that can stand in the way of our having a universal outlook. We have our personal preferences and pet peeves, our different and even conflicting views and opinions, etc. Do we know how to handle these situations with the view of avoiding the danger of elitism, tribalism, etc.?

We certainly have to make the effort to develop the attitude of actively reaching out to others especially if they are different from us or if they have positions in conflict with ours. We need to be understanding, compassionate, friendly with everyone, always avoiding rash judgments, the bad habit of finding fault in others, comparing ourselves with them, etc.

In fact, St. Paul recommended that we regard others better than ourselves. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride,” he said. “But in humility consider others more important than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Phil 2,3-4)

This will definitely require a lot of effort and nothing less than the grace of God. Are we trying to meet these requirements?